Readers’ wildlife photos

Today we have a lovely batch of moth photos from reader Paul Doerder, whose notes and IDs are indented. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

From Paul:

In response to your request for more contributions, here are photos taken during National Moth Week at the end of July

After being introduced to it by a former student, mothing has become a favorite night-time activity. Our cabin is surrounded by woods, a weedy lawn (no chemicals) and many tangled banks, making it ideal for wildlife. 

Although numbers of individuals are small, at each mothing session I regularly see several dozen species, ranging from the tiny micromoths to the giant silkworms, from the drab to the colorful. Though I needed no incentive, for these photos I used the occasion of National Moth Week (July 23-31) to set up my white cotton mothing sheet, mercury vapor lamps and UV LEDs on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Both nights were calm, warm and moonless—perfect mothing conditions, and well over 50 species were sighted. A special treat was two species of royal silkworms and six species of sphinx moths. Three species were first sightings (the Regal Moth, the Ash Sphinx, and the Azalea Sphinx) and on both nights there were six individuals of the Imperial Moth.

The royals were also exciting because they are listed as “uncommon” in the field guide and because neither they nor their silkworm relatives were seen in mothing sessions earlier this year. Sightings of the royals were fun also because they are noisy, clumsy fliers. I could hear them approaching without my hearing aids, and they often flopped on the ground before making it to the sheet. So much for pristine specimens!

A note on photography. I take photos primarily for species identification (very useful for the small moths) and usually the moths are resting on the sheet, often for hours after landing. Sometimes, however, they are on the ground, a nearby tree, or the cabin wall. On some occasions, like this one, just before sunrise and before shaking moths from the sheet to make them less available for predators, I transfer them to the nearby Alaskan Cypress (Callitropsis nootkatensis) to have a more pleasing background. For sense of scale, the Imperial and Regal moths had wingspans of 4-5 inches, over twice the size of the sphinxes. 

Ash Sphinx, Manduca jasminearum (Guérin, 1831):

Azalea Sphinx, Darapsa choerilus (pholus) (Cramer, 1780):

Blinded Sphinx, Paonias excaecata (J.E. Smith, 1797):

Northern Pine Sphinx, Lapara bombycoides (Walker, 1856):

Small-eyed Sphinx, Paonias myops (J.E. Smith, 1797):

Virginia Creeper Sphinx, Darapsa myron (Cramer, 1780):

Imperial Moth, Eacles imperialis (Drury, 1773). Wingspan 4-5 inches:

Regal Moth aka Royal Walnut Moth, Citheronia regalis (Fabricius, 1793). Head to wingtip about 4 inches: